…and then there were two.
Yesterday I posted on our blog about my current gripe with the marketing of young acts in the music industry. I had called for a renaissance of creative music marketing, utilizing new technology and innovation in conjunction with social media tools, after noticing quite a bit that young bands have been resorting to social media, which does help quite a bit with boosting initial presence but prevents them from really standing out as original artists. I wanted to continue that discussion over here and post some helpful tips, ideas and help brainstorm a bit about some other great ways to creatively promote new bands. I realize that each of these ideas won’t work for everyone, but it’s more intended to be a starting point for a discussion on other creative ideas you might have.
Let’s begin!
1) Take your street team to the next level with some innovative guerrilla marketing
As I said in my previous article, some artists are able to find a great deal of success by surrounding themselves in mystery or notoriety. In addition, these days it is nearly impossible for a band to be successful without creating a business model for that band to follow — thus you’ll need a team in place to help execute this. While you don’t need to do anything quite as elaborate as this, take advantage of your friends, fans and local contacts to help create a tight network, and innovate!
For artwork, there are so many student and amateur artists looking to get their big break like your band — there’s no need to hire an award-winning artist to do your artwork and build your website anymore. Plus, young minds are usually fresh with new ideas. Same goes with marketing and music business students. Spend some time to sit down with these people you’re working with, and really develop a unique plan to market the act to a larger audience. Creating something really unique and eye-catching will force the general population to stop and maybe check you out.
Independent bands already get their music out there by giving it away, as part of their marketing strategy. One thing that came to mind when developing an innovative marketing strategy echoes the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero example I mentioned in my last post: add some mystery to the equation! Perhaps give away your debut EP on flash drives, but add some bonus content to the mix to intrigue the listener. Hide a copy in the venue’s bathroom to see what lucky attendee picks it up. Make it into a game. The options don’t end there.
One other goldmine for marketing innovation is the artistic branding of your act. Prince was known for about 7 years as an unpronounceable symbol, which garnered him a TON of media attention. You don’t need to go that far, but creating a sort of symbol or overriding theme in your music or brand gives something to your fans to connect with, easily identify you, and could again add a level of mystery.
Boston locals and Sonicbids artists Boston Molasses Disaster do one additional cool thing: they keep track of their setlists for every show, and then post them online. This is a great way to help fans and newcomers familiarize themselves with your music. Suppose a new fan thinks, “I love these guys, especially that third song they played! But I don’t know what it’s called or anything.” He/she can then go to your website, track down the setlist and then know what to look out for at your next show.
Then, once you have this plan ready, execute it! Make sure you post some evidence in your Sonicbids EPK — not only is it good to prove that you are active and dedicated as a band, but again, these kinds of things make you stand out.
2) The EPK and the online listening party
Here at Sonicbids we talk a lot about the different possible uses of the EPK, and one idea that came up was that of an “online listening party” through the EPK. Conducting an online listening party for your next album could be quite different than a conventional one, which would require a fair amount of planning and expense. Hosting the party online is cheap and easy, and can help you gauge your fans’ interest before moving to the actual CD release party.
Since your EPK presents you in a much more professional light than, say, a MySpace or Facebook page (you’re working with promoters rather than interacting with fans), use it as a “secret base” for certain fans, and link them there to access the tracks to your new album. Then, they can contact you easily with feedback if you like, and you can later track the song plays on your EPK Stats page — a great way to see which songs are getting the most attention. You can also use it in conjunction with Twitter, to get some immediate feedback if you like, and track your buzz easily in your Sonicbids account so you don’t have to leave two windows open at once. Finally, you could also have fans share the link with their friends, so that newcomers can get easy access to your press info, upcoming gigs, and whatever other information you have posted.
3) The band pamphlet and the interactive live show
Lou here has mentioned several times the use of a band pamphlet, which you can use to give some additional info to showgoers while you play your set. You can take that to a whole new level if you want, and possibly work it into an actual element of the live performance — perhaps give the audience some of your lyrics, to engage in some fan interaction.
4) Learn some newfangled technology
I don’t know about you, but I love going to show and watching the band do something completely off-the-wall that I’ve never seen in my life. There’s something exciting about watching innovation in live music performance. A good way to take advantage of this sort of phenomenon is through music technology. You no longer need to spend thousands of dollars on dozens of synthesizers, and you no longer need the best guitar to get a great guitar tone. (This should NOT stop you from getting that guitar or bass you’ve always wanted!)
For my project taken by name, I’ve been working with a program called Max/MSP to create some tools to aid the 
more electronic aspects of my music in live performance. (Disclaimer: this is not for the technologically faint of heart.) I had an idea to create a massive “Max patch” to do this on my laptop and set up various instruments, controllers and other found objects to do cool things live with my music. To further this, I came up with the idea of sharing these tools and patches via my website, to:
1) allow for viewers to play with these patches themselves
2) cover/reinterpret my music with the patches, suggest some ideas
3) post new ideas for patches that I could incorporate into a live performance
It’s just an idea right now and requires the right audience and dedication, but it could be a good way to really interact with fans.
Hey, this just turned into an open forum. If you have any other creative ideas regarding music marketing, social media, or just want to share your thoughts, post ‘em here. The possibilities actually are endless.
